Busted decapper...

DocSavage · Nov 25, 2013

Damn!

Made a rookie mistake and pushed too hard when I knew I should have stopped and checked first. I was just trucking along minding my own business, and looking forward to tumbling up some 9mm... Huh? That's odd, little extra pressure on this one...

So I pulled the round off my plate, looked at the primer and didn't see anything in the hole, just black carbon fouling... I checked the outside of the case and saw a red lacquered primer, I figured must've just been me.

CRUNCH!! SNAP!!! Dammit!!!! You guessed it... I tried to deprime a Berdan primed 9mm round. That's what I get for forcing the press. Snapped my Lee Universal Decapping pin!

Any of you guys have similar stories? I didn't know I had to worry bout these in handgun calibers, just thought they were in commie rifle rounds - hence one of the reasons we don't reload em... Is the red lacquer a dead giveaway?

The pics below are after I tumbled them for clarity...

Cheers!

Doc

chale127 · Nov 25, 2013

I traded RichB for some .223 yesterday...HAD to go home and deprime and toss in the tumbler

was punching some and i punched one and pulled it out and the dent went the OTHER way...i was like hmmmm

put it back in, pulled it out...same thing... :confused:

put another in...NOTHING
damn if the pin didn't move on me...so back to the drawing board...reset the pin
put the dented one back in and damn if the pin didn't move AGAIN :mad54:

so get the wrenches out AGAIN, this time i cranked down on the tightening collar...thankfully it worked that time

stu929 · Nov 25, 2013

I've broken a few pins with military brass luckily rcbs was great and quickly sent me some spares!

Winterborn · Nov 25, 2013

chale127 said:
I traded RichB for some .223 yesterday...HAD to go home and deprime and toss in the tumbler

was punching some and i punched one and pulled it out and the dent went the OTHER way...i was like hmmmm

put it back in, pulled it out...same thing...

put another in...NOTHING
damn if the pin didn't move on me...so back to the drawing board...reset the pin
put the dented one back in and damn if the pin didn't move AGAIN

so get the wrenches out AGAIN, this time i cranked down on the tightening collar...thankfully it worked that time

Told you some of those had stubborn primers

j8064 · Nov 25, 2013

Sooner or later any reloader will break a decapping pin. It's not the end of the world and a good reason to have spares on hand.

On Lee dies, it's more difficult to break one tho. On a Lee die the decapping rod is held in place by torque from the nut at the top of the die. You only need to torque that nut to hold the pin in place under "normal" resistance from the cap. The rod should be pushed up through the nut if the pin hits too much resistance which minimizes pin breakage.

Try backing off the nut a little when you put in a replacement rod.

DocAitch · Nov 25, 2013

Back when I first started to load I ran into a few Berdan primed 9mm, but those were usually some sort of brass washed steel case, and I don't see any these days.
I have never seen a S&B brass case like yours, and I reload a lot of 9mm(1000 in the last 3 days).
I wonder how old that case is?
DocAitch

DocSavage · Nov 25, 2013

DocAitch said:
Back when I first started to load I ran into a few Berdan primed 9mm, but those were usually some sort of brass washed steel case, and I don't see any these days. I have never seen a S&B brass case like yours, and I reload a lot of 9mm(1000 in the last 3 days). I wonder how old that case is? DocAitch

Dunno Doc...

Scooped it up off the floor at the shop (EA), and brought it home to reload. I didn't think anything at all of the new to me brass that I scrounged - but I will now!

We should meet up at your range and shoot a few?!

Cheers,

Doc

damifinowfish · Nov 26, 2013

With my lee decapping die I just snug the locking ring so the pin can easily back out before breaking. But I still break pins. At $2 each I just add 2 or 3 pins to my orders when I buy other gun stuff.

Deep Creek Rock · Nov 26, 2013

chale127 said:
I traded RichB for some .223 yesterday...HAD to go home and deprime and toss in the tumbler

was punching some and i punched one and pulled it out and the dent went the OTHER way...i was like hmmmm

put it back in, pulled it out...same thing...

put another in...NOTHING
damn if the pin didn't move on me...so back to the drawing board...reset the pin
put the dented one back in and damn if the pin didn't move AGAIN

so get the wrenches out AGAIN, this time i cranked down on the tightening collar...thankfully it worked that time

Be aware that there is 5.56 brass with undersized flash holes! Ive ran into a small amount of those (cant recall the exact headstamp) If the primer does not bulge or pop out when you size, you may have one. It will break your decapping pin.

Some 5.56 just have stubborn primer crimps, and take a little more effort to push them out. When in doubt, look down the case with a flashlight.

chale127 · Nov 26, 2013

RichB said:
Told you some of those had stubborn primers

That you did Rich, and it was a stubborn one because a few dozen prior to that i punched a second flash hole right next to the other so it looked like an 8 (case wasn't seated in the shell holder all the way and i just stroked the handle, felt like a stuck primer, looked at the flash hole and was like...OOPS

chale127 · Nov 26, 2013

Deep Creek Rock said:
Be aware that there is 5.56 brass with undersized flash holes! Ive ran into a small amount of those (cant recall the exact headstamp) If the primer does not bulge or pop out when you size, you may have one. It will break your decapping pin.

Some 5.56 just have stubborn primer crimps, and take a little more effort to push them out. When in doubt, look down the case with a flashlight.

i have noticed some tighter than others on the back stroke of the press, I'll keep this in mind, thanks

Winterborn · Nov 26, 2013

chale127 said:
That you did Rich, and it was a stubborn one because a few dozen prior to that i punched a second flash hole right next to the other so it looked like an 8 (case wasn't seated in the shell holder all the way and i just stroked the handle, felt like a stuck primer, looked at the flash hole and was like...OOPS

Yeah, my Lee universal decapper has punched a new flash hole in some brass before

theBIGone2087 · Nov 26, 2013

I have a nice big bag of recapping pins for all the makers of the Dies I have (lee, RCBS, and Hornady). I've broken more pins than I care to admit!

Weber · Nov 26, 2013

Just did this a half hour ago on a piece of 308 brass.

DocAitch · Nov 26, 2013

Doc,
Be happy to go shooting. I'm free couple of times next week PM me.
DocAitch

guthook · Nov 26, 2013

Deep Creek Rock said:
Be aware that there is 5.56 brass with undersized flash holes! Ive ran into a small amount of those (cant recall the exact headstamp) If the primer does not bulge or pop out when you size, you may have one. It will break your decapping pin.

Some 5.56 just have stubborn primer crimps, and take a little more effort to push them out. When in doubt, look down the case with a flashlight.

Wonder if it was this: IK'03

EDIT: Wow. Deja Vu. I was replying to your post then, also. :lol2:

Deep Creek Rock · Nov 27, 2013

guthook said:
Wonder if it was this: IK'03

EDIT: Wow. Deja Vu. I was replying to your post then, also.

LOL yeah that issue happened awhile ago. Im glad to say I havent found anymore of those horrible cases. Why a company would put an out of spec primer flash hole in a boxer primed case, is beyond me.

Winterborn · Nov 27, 2013

Deep Creek Rock said:
LOL yeah that issue happened awhile ago. Im glad to say I havent found anymore of those horrible cases. Why a company would put an out of spec primer flash hole in a boxer primed case, is beyond me.

I use them, you just need a lee universal decapper. They don't need the primer pockets swaged and hold up well.

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 4

Pinecone · Nov 27, 2013

The red lacquer normally means selaed primer, and likely, swaged in place.

Berdan primed can be found in most any caliber. Heck, CCI even loads Berdan primed in the US (the aluminum cases).

But S&B is not an old round, you can buy today, Cabela's carried it:

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Shoo...=SBC;MMcat104792580;cat104691780;cat104372280

DocAitch · Nov 27, 2013

I have reloaded a crap load of S&B 9mm cases and I have not seen a single Berdan primed case. Is there somewhere in this Cabelas ad that says that these are Berdan primed?
As a matter of fact, I have gone through 5000 S&B SP Boxer primers in the last year,so I know that S&B make boxer primers those days.
Unless I am missing something, I think the case that Doc Savage shows in his post is an old one.
DocAitch

Busted decapper...

The #1 community for Gun Owners of the Northeast

Member Benefits:

The Man of Bronze

Ultimate Member

M1 Addict

Moved to Texas

Garrett Co Hooligan #1

Active Member

The Man of Bronze

Ultimate Member

.._. .._ _._. _._ .._

Ultimate Member

Ultimate Member

Moved to Texas

Point-of-Aim Productions

USMC

Active Member

Grrr.

.._. .._ _._. _._ .._

Moved to Texas

Ultimate Member

Active Member

Users who are viewing this thread

Log in

Forum statistics